RE: The Brent Milano "Stardust Memories" article.
What's up with this dude? While he does give the TJB music some due respect, he sure gets a lot wrong:
What's up with this dude? While he does give the TJB music some due respect, he sure gets a lot wrong:
WRONG. Only two of the ten albums hadn't been on CD previously.The uninformed Brent Milano said:It seems strange that one of most popular acts of the ’60s would only now be releasing most of his catalogue on CD for the first time.
True-- but where was it written that the TJB was a mariachi group? Nowhere.The uninitiated Brent Milano said:It never sound much like authentic mariachi — indeed, the credits reveal the group never had a single Hispanic member.
VERY WRONG. Did this guy even listen to the two albums? They couldn't sound more different! I will admit that NINTH doesn't really have a hint of "counterculture" in it, but that's a good thing....shows Herb wasn't just jumping on any old bandwagon. (Although he did cover the Beatles, but who didn't?)The possibly-stoned Brent Milano said:And they were absolutely untouched by ’60s counterculture. Among Shout Factory’s current reissue series are the group’s eighth and ninth albums, Sounds Like . . . and Ninth, released in March and November 1967, before and after the Summer of Love. The two sound identical.
How dopey is this? Anyone who thinks the albums sound alike, (other than having the same "lead" instrument) must have peanut butter in his ears. The only albums that sound "alike" are SRO and SOUNDS LIKE, and even they have quite a few differences in style.The tin-eared Brent Milano said:So, for that matter, do most of the 11 albums in Shout Factory’s reissue series, [sound alike, he means]
DUH, he stopped "trying to sound Mexican" after album #3, SOUTH OF THE BORDER. That was the last time there was even a hint of Mexico, except the occasional Spanish song title (and of course the twin trumpet sound and mandolin...but that's not really Mexican.)Still not getting it said:by album #10, The Beat of the Brass (which included the one vocal hit, "This Guy’s in Love with You"), Alpert had stopped even trying to sound Mexican.
I guess this is a matter of opinion, but I find the ones from WHIPPED CREAM forward more fun to listen to than the first three because it's fun hearing Herb "run" with his style after he finally found it.The slightly-uppity Brent Milano said:The early albums are the silliest, most dated, and, well, most fun to hear again.
A "Big band standard?" "Marjorine" from WARM is more "big band"-ish than "The Happening" any day. (Of course this guy probably didn't hear WARM.)Apparently never having heard a big band said:"The Happening" is arranged as a big-band standard rather than as the Supremes hit it was.
BS, I say! Didn't he listen to GOING PLACES? How can an album be more unified than that one?Brent Milano said:The Tijuana’s one great, unified album is 1965’s Whipped Cream & Other Delights.
I hate the word "kitsch." It's tossed around too much today, and it always implies "music that isn't really very good but is fun to listen to for novelty or nostalgic value." Well the TJB is not kitsch, never was and never will be. It's good instrumental pop music. I better go have a beer.The completely-clueless Brent Milano said:Even at their kitschiest, though, the Tijuana Brass were simply selling an idealized vision of a sunny vacation spot.